The Happiest Place On Earth
by Ariannette
Summary: *Short Sequel to You Only Live Twice* House and Cuddy are finally together, they're finally a family and everything seems to be falling into place. But will House be able to change enough and be there for Cuddy when she needs him? For when their daughter needs him?
1. Chapter 1

So this is a little sequel to 'You Only Live Twice'. I wasn't planning on pursuing the story but it just wouldn't leave my brain alone. Lol. This won't be as long, but i really wanted to explore more of their life as a family unit. BTW this story will not make any sense if you haven't read 'You Only Live Twice'. This takes place directly after House quits his job in Minnesota, and goes back to live in Princeton.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Previously<em>**_…_

_"House…. House?"_

_He blinked his eyes open slowly, and Cuddy watched as he tried to focus them on her._

_House licked his lips and swallowed, "What?"_

_"We're here", she whispered, semi-patting his hair._

_Cuddy watched as he opened his eyes wide, attempting wake up completely, and yawned, while she made her way out into the isle, and he got out too._

_House lazily picked up his blazer from his seat, and in the process of it, an orange round bottle fell out, spilling his pills all over the airplanes' floor._

_She wasn't surprised in the least- after all, he'd been delightful after he'd come back from the bathroom stall. But House who'd looked down as the script fell, looked up at her with a terrified expression, as if he'd gotten caught._

_Cuddy merely smiled sadly at him, and sighed…._

xxxoxxxo

**The Happiest Place On Earth**

Prologue

Neither of them said anything as they made their way out of the baggage claim area to catch a taxi.

Cuddy wasn't sure what the right thing to say to him was. She didn't want sound condescending and getting angry wasn't right either, because after all, she'd been the kickstart to his addiction again.

But after watching him drop the entire hidden bottle of Oxycodone, that he'd secretly brought with him, she knew that he clearly needed to go back to rehab. The only thing she was struggling with, was how to bring it up.

Luckily she didn't need to say anything, because House spoke first.

He'd opened the door to the cab, and moved over to let her in, and then paused at the frame of the door, looking down at her, "I'm…staying at my place tonight."

"What? No. Get in", she scooted over to make space for him.

House shook his head, "I'll call you tomorrow."

He attempted to close the door, but she held it open and frowned at him because he was being completely ridiculous, "No. You need to come with me."

He let out a big sigh, "But I want to go _home_."

"Why? Why can't you just sleep over at my house? You don't have all of your furniture back yet anyway", Cuddy stressed, feeling a chill run through her, just at the thought of having him far away.

He shook his head, "I- need…some time alone."

Her nose flared a little, "What do you mean? You just quit the Mayo clinic and came back. I thought it meant that we-"

"That meant that I want to be here and I want to be with you, it just doesn't mean I want to live with you."

She blinked her eyes repeatedly, because she was struck by the nonchalant less of his words, "House-"

"I never promised anything", he explained.

"You OD'd yesterday… twice and _died_. Not to mention that stint earlier with a bottle full of narcotics. You shouldn't be alone. You can't be alone."

He swallowed and Cuddy watched as he eyed the cab driver who was waiting for him to either get into the cab or close the door so they could leave.

House looked back at her and swallowed, "I can't be what you want."

She knew what he meant. He was still a mess. He was sleep deprived, malnourished, and could potentially just pass out at anytime from a lack of taking care of himself. And in a way it was sweet that he wanted to shield her from the mess that he was. But he was her responsibility, and she was struck that he didn't get that.

In a swift and surprising moment, she pulled him into the cab and moved her arms over him to shut the door, then immediately gave the driver directions to her house.

He turned and looked at her strangely, "What are you doing?"

"Kidnapping you", Cuddy paused and looked at him, "and I'm not letting you go."

xxxoxxxo

_Later_

"Don't you think you should be at the hospital too? You know- for Madeline", he asked out loud, while playing with a random paperclip he'd found on the side table by the couch. Cuddy was busy in the kitchen doing something. They'd been dancing around the big elephant in the room and he'd cleverly been able to dodge the inevitable conversation that was coming, up until that point.

She'd given him more specifics about Madeline's health, and he'd gone on to ask just about everything that she'd learned to do in his absence. It would have been sweet, was it not because he was only doing it to avoid talking about his problem.

"She's fine. Wilson is at the hospital and he said he'd call if anything happened", she said walking back into the living room and placing a ruben sandwich in front of him.

He looked at it for a second and then up at her, "I'm not hungry."

"You look like you could be a holocaust survivor", she said flatly, sitting down next to him.

House raised his eyebrows, "Whoa there. That's offensive, I'm jewish."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "Did you not eat, all those months you were in Minnesota?"

"Actually, I went vegan", he stopped and fumbled with the clip in his hands, frowning a bit, "So what's the plan? You going to nurture me back to health? And everything in the world will be ok?"

She inhaled deeply and shrugged, "I don't know House? But it seems like a good start. I guess the alternative would be driving you to the hospital to sign you into rehab, and the third option would be for you to start seeing Nolan again."

"I am not going to rehab", he scoffed, "Or seeing Nolan- that's ridiculous."

"You have to do something."

"I'm fine." He let out easily.

"You are anything but fine."

House took a deep breath, waiting a few seconds and looked at the sandwich, then suddenly stood up, "I'm going home."

Cuddy got up to and stood in front of him, blocking him from going towards the door, "You can't just leave every time something uncomfortable comes up. You need to talk to me."

"What's this we're doing right now?" he asked, grabbing his coat.

"You have to know on some level that you aren't ok."

He shrugged, "I would be better if you'd just let me leave."

"Can you stop it with all the sarcasm? You need to be admitted or else-", she pressed, placing her hands on his arms.

He scoffed, "Or what? I either agree to go to rehab or you'll dump me again?"

Cuddy's expression softened as it often did when he was hurt, "No. I won't dump you, I just hope you'd do this for me- for us…I love you House, and I don't want to have to worry, that at any second I'll get a call letting me know you're dead", he watched as she paused to swallow and her eyes teared up, "Do you know what I felt when Wilson told me that they barely brought you back? Knowing it was my fault-"

"What I did, had nothing to do with you", he interrupted her.

"It had everything to do with me! I know exactly how you operate. I know that you only did everything you did because I pushed you away, because I hurt you, and-"

"My actions are my actions."

He watched as inevitable tears began falling down her face, "Please don't make me go through that again."

She looked terrified and it was something new.

"I'm not going- doesn't mean that I won't get clean. It just means… that I'll do it on my own", he finally relented.

xxxoxxxo

"So now what?" House asked sitting down on her bed, and eyeing her, as Cuddy took off her earrings in front of her vanity.

She looked back at him through her mirror with only a small frown, "What do you mean?"

He yawned and grabbed a pillow to put it over his lap, "There's a bucket load of things we haven't talked about. For instance, Madeline being my spawn, you being pregnant _with _my spawn- my current state of unemployment-"

"None of that matters right now. All we have to worry about is you and everything else we'll deal with it as it comes."

"Things aren't that simple-"

She let out a sigh, "House. Things are only as complicated as we make them- and you are the world-record holder for analyzing things. So how about for once, you just let that big brain of yours rest?"

However, when she finished what she'd been saying and turned around to look over at his body- she realized that he'd already fallen asleep.

Cuddy smiled, it felt right having him pass out on her bed. It felt right having him there.

Actually she wasn't too surprised that he'd fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. She knew House had been putting on an act for her, by appearing to be ok, but knew that his body was overworked. And as she got into bed and snuggled up close to him, feeling his breath on her made her feel at peace, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

xxxoxxxo

Early the next day when she'd woken up, seeing him still slumbering away and only snoring lightly, she'd taken the opportunity to go through his suitcase and jacket to find all his prescriptions. It hadn't surprised her to find five completely full prescription bottles hidden cleverly through out his things.

She'd flushed nearly all of them down the toilet and walked back into the bedroom to see him still sleeping away comfortably and looked at the last bottle in her hand. For a while she contemplated whether to keep it or not, because if anything she was no enabler. However, she also knew that he couldn't simply go cold turkey.

Many times before, Cuddy had seen House go through withdrawal and in his current mangled state- she wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it. He was so weak, so frail, and she didn't want to run the risk of having him drift away from her by forcing him to go through it that way.

Instead, she safely hid the prescription bottle somewhere she knew he'd never think to look, and took just one pill with her, for when he woke up.

xxxoxxxo

It was in the middle of making toast, that a groggy House walked into the kitchen, with an adorable set of bed hair and a single flop on to the barstool in front of her.

Cuddy watched as he sat down on the bar stool, and was a bit hunched over, probably because he was attempting to hide how his stomach was cramping, by the fact that his hands were in fists.

"You ok?" she asked openly, setting a plate with toast in front of him.

House nodded, and only sipped from a coffee she'd handed him, "Fine."

Cuddy sighed and placed a hand on her belly, "You don't have to lie to me."

He looked at the plate of toast with a frown, and then up at her, "Ok. You suck at cooking."

She cracked a sad smile, "I meant about how you're feeling, I can tell you're starting to go through withdrawals."

She could see a thin layer of sweat on him as he trembled, "Did you go through my stuff?"

"Yes. Its all gone. I had to go through your things- because you never would have told me about everything you were carrying…I just want you to get better House."

"Well, I would be a lot better if you hadn't flushed my stash", he commented, and after a moment added, "So what's your brilliant plan?"

He wasn't mad, and that was progress all in itself. It meant that he really wanted to be clean, because that involved a life with her, with Madeline and with the baby she was carrying. Of course, Cuddy knew that he would never come out and say that himself- but the beauty of it was that she didn't need him to.

She shook her head and placed a white oval pill on the counter, "Well, one thing we both know for sure is that you can't go cold turkey, not after how much you were taking. But on the other hand, you can't keep taking pills forever, so…we'll have to figure something out. I thought first we could go see Madeline, she should be ready to come home today."

House licked his lips and looked down at the pill, almost enamored with it, "I need…I need to go see Wilson."

"Don't you want to see Madeline?"

He looked up at her blankly, then back down at the counter with a tiny frown, "I'm not sure."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."

"I know." He nodded.

She sighed and took one of his trembling hands, "House- talk to me. You said you needed me, you said you wanted to be with us and now- I can't get you to talk."

After a moment, and heavy breathing he stood up without looking at her and walked out of the kitchen.

xxxoxxxo

"What did you expect he was going to be like when you brought him home?" Wilson asked jokingly as he sipped from the coffee that Cuddy brought to him.

"Well I thought he'd at least want to see his daughter", she murmured a little hurt by House's indifference to being back.

Ever since that morning that he'd woken up, House had stayed inside her bedroom preferring to sleep than talking to her or going to go visit Madeline in the hospital.

Wilson looked over at Cuddy and placed his coffee mug down with a huge sigh, "House is…not himself. He's coming off months of abusing painkillers again and who knows what else. He's a zombie Cuddy, and he doesn't want to see Madeline because it won't mean anything to him…yet."

"Well as romantic as that sounds- I don't know. Its always so hard to tell with him. I didn't even ask him if he was ready to be her dad, I just assumed."

"Of course he does. He loves her, maybe even more than he loves you", he shrugged with both hands inside his pockets.

Cuddy stopped then and listened as she heard the noise of a car outside take off- she stood up and walked to the window watching as a yellow cab had left the curbside. A terror ran through her chest then and she looked back at Wilson, who looked just as scared, "You check down here, I'll check upstairs."

As she made her way upstairs and into her room and saw an open window, Cuddy sighed because she knew that he was gone.

xxxoxxxo

He'd wanted to take the pill she put on the counter badly. But there was something about letting her see how bad his addiction had gotten, that he couldn't bear to let her see. It was strange, but he didn't want her to realize just how weak he really was.

He sat on his one piece of furniture that they hadn't taken away to storage- his couch, with his green emergency box that he'd safely hidden in the apartment, and swallowed.

House really did have every intention of stopping and knew that he needed to, if he truly wanted to be with Cuddy and Madeline. But his body was more in control of him than his rationality, and he couldn't help it. He opened it and looked at the various different forms of relief that he had, faintly thinking about the morphine- but knowing it was too extreme.

Before he had anymore time to really think about it, he popped the cap off the oxy pills he'd stolen from his parents house and downed a couple then put everything back and closed the box again.

xxxoxxxo

_Later that day_

Wilson felt helpless as he got back to his office. He'd hoped when he'd gone over to Cuddy's home, that it would be to take House to rehab- something he clearly needed. But instead he'd slipped through their fingers again.

But when he opened his office door, and there waiting for him was his best friend laying comfortably on his couch, "I've been waiting forever, you know?"

Just one glance at his carefree expression and Wilson knew- House had relapsed.

"You relapsed."

House shrugged, "Can it really be considered a relapse if I didn't really say i'd stop?"

"Cuddy knows you left to get high."

He grabbed a throw pillow from Wilson's couch and placed it underneath his head, "I had a good reason to."

"Oh, please enlighten me." Wilson placed his keys on his desk and went to grab his bottle of water from his desk, throwing one to House in the process.

"I decided I want to be induced into a coma, so that I don't have to go through those pesky detoxing stages", he said evenly with a hint of a smile.

Wilson's mouth was slightly open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You want to be put into a coma? You know you're insane, right?"

"I've done it to one of my patients in the past", House added, biting into an apple that had been on his coffee table.

Wilson scoffed, "Yeah, that teenage heroin addict, and it was only so that you could diagnose what was really the underline cause of her condition. You on the other hand just want to skip the uncomfortable outcome of what your actions have caused you."

House rolled his eyes and massaged his face with his thin arms, "Oh great, here we go. I should've brought ear plugs."

"You haven't changed at all. You're a coward House, you think you can con your way out of every uncomfortable situation, because if you do then you don't have to face the fact that your scared, that you're terrified that everything that's happening isn't going to last. You think that Cuddy wanting you back is temporary, or that maybe all the change in your life is so foreign and good, that you want to deliberately mess it up, so at least its in your terms. Because the only way you know how to live is in pain, whether its physical or emotional."

He dropped his arms dramatically, "Are you going to do it or not? Because I'll go to someone else if you're not."

Wilson crossed his arms,"No one else would be reckless enough to do it….Fine, but first you need to speak to Cuddy."

"Are you kidding? Of course we can't tell her, she'll say no."

"Then that's also my answer."

House paused and sighed, "I'm not doing this for me- its for them."

"Right, how very selfless of you-"

He sat up straight, "I mean it. When Cuddy was pregnant with Madeline, I was in rehab- I don't want to do that to her again. She deserves to have someone with her- she needs someone with her, and I want to be there…Look I promise to go see Nolan again… Just do the rapid detox."

As much as he knew that it was insane, and knew he should say no- to see House doing something- that though childish- was selfless in its own way, made him unable to say no. So he begrudgingly nodded, and spoke up, "Ok. When?"

"Right now."

xxxoxxxo

He was running on steam. Every molecule in his body had been exerting the last drop of energy it could summon, and House wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep up his facade.

There was a large part of him that was excited about being placed in a coma, because of the mere fact that he wouldn't be able to feel anything. His body needed to be restarted, because he hardly felt like he'd able to go through rehab again.

House opened his eyes faintly as his friend walked into his hospital room, "Are we all set up?"

Wilson had his hands on his hips, looking at House as he lay in the hospital bed and frowned, "Are you sure about this? Wouldn't it just be easier to go to rehab?"

"Nope. This works, I told you I've tested it on patients", he said proudly handing the plunger to Wilson.

"House, I really think-"

House shook his head, "Last time Cuddy was pregnant and she had Madeline I was in rehab. This time there's a kid that needs someone to take care of it while she's off having the other kid. I can't go to rehab- she needs me."

"Pumping yourself full of naloxone and inducing a coma isn't dealing with your _serious_ addiction- this is an easy way out."

"I'll be clean- its all that matters" he shrugged, then added, "I wont have a problem staying clean after its out of my system. I'm not stupid, I have a kid- I'm gonna have two kids", he said raising his eyebrows.

Wilson took a deep breath and sighed pushing the plunger and putting him into an induced coma, "Ok…We'll see you on the other side."

xxxoxxxo

Cuddy had been relieved when Wilson had called her the night before, to tell her that House was fine and at the hospital. And she'd felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest.

However, what she hadn't been prepared for was the fact that he'd placed himself in a coma, to rid his body of all the toxins.

It was a very him thing to do, she admitted that. It was childish, selfish, and insanely dangerous- yet at the same time, she knew he had done it for her and Madeline.

And as she sat on an uncomfortable chair next to his hospital bed, waiting patiently for him to wake up. Wilson had been in only a little while earlier, and had given him medication to wake up.

Cuddy held his seemingly lifeless hand, wondering if their life would always be that spontaneous. Would he at all calm down now that they were going to make their relationship work?

She hated to think of how his actions could affect Madeline, and if this would always be a roller coaster that they would forever ride.

"Hi", she heard and popped her tired eyes wide open.

House had woken up, and was faintly smiling at her.

All at once, the anger she'd been holding back when Wilson had told what he'd done, came flooding back. And Cuddy felt hot tears filling her eyes.

"You idiot", she half whispered, half gasped out.

He moved and let out a whispery laugh, "Good morning to you too."

Then, in a surprising movement, House slowly raised a hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears, "Don't, please."

"Then don't scare me like this anymore. It's not exciting anymore House, every time I turn around I'm afraid I'm going to loose you", her voice was uneven and breathy.

Although he was weak, she felt him summon up all the strength he had left, and pulled her into the bed with him, letting her rest her head against his chest.

It was strangely relieving to feel his heart beating against her own chest, and welcomed his long arms around her, "Don't worry. You'll never be able to get rid of me now. I'm going to stick to you like a leech."

Cuddy laughed, feeling a little better- when someone cleared their throat at the entrance of the room. Both she and House looked up to see Wilson holding a tear stained Madeline.

She held out her arms excitedly and bounced up and down in Wilson's arms, "The nurses told me she's been crying all morning."

Cuddy carefully sat up and took her into her own arms, turning her to House, "I think she wants you."

He was frowning a little, and Cuddy knew only too well that it was because he was unsure of what to do. He'd held her a million times, had never had a problem with talking to her, or consoling her, but now he looked completely lost.

To Madeline there was no difference. Their little one-year old dropped herself easily on his chest and placed her small tiny fingers around one of his fingers, closing her eyes and breathing out, "Dada."


	2. Chapter 2

**N/A: Filler Chapter, but I hope you enjoy it a little bit :). Update for "The Letters" coming VERY soon...maybe by the time you finish reading this...**

* * *

><p><strong>The Happiest Place On Earth<strong>

Part 2

_Previously…_

_"__You idiot", she half whispered, half gasped out. _

_He moved and let out a whispery laugh, "Good morning to you too."_

_Then, in a surprising movement, House slowly raised a hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears, "Don't, please."_

_"__Then don't scare me like this anymore. It's not exciting anymore House, every time I turn around, I'm afraid I'm going to loose you", her voice was uneven and breathy. _

_Although he was weak, she felt him summon up all the strength he had left, and pulled her into the bed with him, letting her rest her head against his chest. _

_It was strangely relieving to feel his heart beating against her own chest, and welcomed his long arms around her, "Don't worry. You'll never be able to get rid of me now. I'm going to stick to you like a leech."…_

xxxoxxxo

_Next Morning_

House had been discharged early that same day, he'd woken up from the self-induced coma. He'd been very eager to go home and eat something that wasn't hospital food- which Cuddy had completely supported. But also, they'd both agreed that he needed some time away from the hospital, and from work.

At first, she'd been very weary about how complacent he seemed, and the lack of sarcasm or how less argumentative he was, because it was hard to push that side of him away. After all, House himself was a big advocate about people not being able to change, however, Cuddy could feel that it was genuine.

The truth was, that it came down to House being rundown, both physically and mentally. It was easy for anyone who knew him, to see, with one look, that he needed rest. Those three months he'd been away in Minnesota, he'd lost more weight than she'd ever seen him do before. And she wasn't sure if he'd even gotten a full night of sleep too, from how dark the circles around his eyes were.

It also didn't help that Madeline had insisted on being in his arms the entire way to the car, and from the car to inside the house- which he had surprisingly accommodated. It was easy to see that nothing had changed for her, he'd always been her 'dada'.

There'd been a couple times when Cuddy had attempted to take her away from him, so he could actually get some rest, but their little one-year-old refused. It was like she was trying to make up for all the lost time House had been gone- so much in fact, that in the time it took her to go to the bathroom, with her pregnant bladder and go back to her room- both House and Madeline were sound asleep, in each others arms.

Cuddy had fallen asleep with both of them soon after, envying how peaceful they looked. And when she'd opened her eyes the next morning, she'd been pleasantly surprised to see House staring back at her- wide awake.

"Hey", he whispered, clearly not wanting to wake up Madeline, who was still fast asleep in-between the both of them.

She yawned and smiled back at him, "You're up early."

"I called Marina and gave her the day off."

"What? Why would you do that? I have to go to work- I'm _weeks_ behind on paperwork-"

He motioned with his eyes down to Madeline, reminding her that she was still fast asleep, and then semi-whispered, "I'm staying home- she doesn't need to be here. Simple as that."

Cuddy scoffed, and shook her head, "House- as sweet as that is-"

He frowned, "What? You think I can't do it?"

She paused and sighed a little, "I think you should rest, and I know Madeline isn't going to let you do that."

"If I have anymore rest, I might grow roots to a bed", he muttered, and began getting up.

"Where are you going?" She asked, as he walked around the bed, towards the bedroom door.

He looked at her strangely, "Where do you think? The kitchen. I'm _famished_."

xxxoxxxo

Later That Day

Cuddy paused at the doorway, with both her keys and purse in her hand, and looked back frowning worriedly at House, "Are you sure you two will be ok with out Marina?"

House pretended to be hurt, as he held a plastic spoon in midair with applesauce in it- destined for Madeline, who's mouth was wide open and waiting, while attempting to move her head towards the spoon.

"Are you really asking me that? I'm pretty sure I can handle her", he let out, completely self-assured.

Even though he sounded confident, Cuddy wasn't sure if it was the truth, or if he was just trying to put on his best show for her. Because regardless of how positive he sounded, she couldn't dismiss his exhausted face, and hospital bracelet he was still wearing around his alarmingly bony wrist.

Cuddy's shoulder's tensed up, "Its just…it's been a while since you took care of her. And you just got discharged yesterday- are you sure you're up-"

"We'll be fine", he insisted, noticeably short and cutting her off.

Madeline who had become very impatient, took his wrist in both of her little hands and shoved the spoon into her mouth.

House motioned towards Madeline with his head, "See? Teamwork."

Cuddy couldn't help at let out a tiny smile, with a sigh, "Ok…But if you need anything- _anything_ at all, please call me."

"Go away already, will you?" He playfully pushed, letting Madeline take the spoon so that she could feed herself, as he drank a sip of his coffee and tried reading from an article.

She paused for a moment, and looked at the unearthly scene in front of her, wishing she could capture the moment. It was like some type of rare- supernatural event, to see House sitting next to a toddler- feeding her, with a book and a cup of coffee in front of him.

"What?" his eyes moved up, when he noticed her staring.

Cuddy couldn't help herself, she walked back into the kitchen and set her things down on the table, to take his face in the palms of her hands, and planted a lingering kiss on his lips.

"I love you", she murmured with a smile, after they parted.

House smiled for a second, but became serious and pointed to the door, attempting to be stern, "Go. The hospital will fall apart without you."

xxxoxxxo

After Madeline was done eating, she'd made it clear that it was time to be taken out of her high-chair, when she raised her arms, expecting to be picked up.

But it was as soon as he'd picked her up in his arms, that House had heard the unmistakable noise that came from her diaper. And as he held her, with both hands underneath her armpits, Madeline looked at him and giggled- fully aware of what she'd just done.

"Thanks", he muttered at her, holding his nose and turning away from her, as they went to her room to change her.

"Dada-dada-dada", she called for him.

"You stink."

Madeline seemed to understand what he said and screeched.

"Oh don't throw a hissy fit- you know you stink too."

"Dada."

House held his breath and turned back to Madeline, who smiled widely at him and giggled. It seemed a lifetime ago that she had said it to him for the first time, and how alien it still sounded now.

He tried not emoting any type of response back on his face, but he couldn't help it- and semi smirked back as he laid Madeline down on her changing table.

She kicked her legs in the air happily, making it difficult for House to unbutton her onesie, and causing him fumble his fingers against the silver buttons- and Madeline smiled widely when he sighed out of frustration. She was enjoying how rusty he seemed to be. And it took a while, but he was finally able to take out her hyper legs out of the onesie.

It was when he'd taken off her diaper and cleaned her up, that he saw the very red rashes marked along the inside of her thighs. It didn't surprise House that she had a diaper rash, when he saw how tight the diaper she had on was, because it was clearly a size too small.

House frowned, and saw how she moved uncomfortably when he had cleaned her up.

He sighed and plopped her in her crib without a new diaper, "Stay here- I'll be right back."

He looked through all the drawers in her room first- since that's where it had been before he'd left for Minnesota, but seemed unable to find the cream. For a moment, he thought about calling Cuddy and asking her too, but didn't want her to think he couldn't handle a simple one-year-old on his own. He was a world-renown Diagnostician after all.

"Don't move kid", he muttered, as he walked out and went to continue his search into Cuddy's room, to her medicine cabinet.

As soon as he had opened the cabinet to search for Madeline's cream, he'd seen it- but like a magnet, his eyes had gravitated to an orange prescription bottle, situated next to the cream. Pills.

They were from when Cuddy had gotten her cesarian, and for whatever reason he'd never seen them before, but it didn't take longer than a couple of seconds for him to realize that it was a full bottle of Vicodin.

There was a swarm of butterflies that immediately erupted in his chest, and a voice inside his head that told him to grab them, that Cuddy wouldn't notice, and that they had been there for a year anyway. Even as his hand reached for the cream, he couldn't deny that he had momentarily thought about actually grabbing the bottle too, but Madeline's sudden outburst from her room startled him, and he closed the medicine cabinet instead.

Still, as he walked out of Cuddy's room, there was now a gaping black hole of anxiety, that had not been there before. But as he made his way into Madeline's room, House momentarily forgot about the pills, and stopped abruptly to see what his toddler had just done.

He took a big breath, observing the chaos that she'd made, and how she'd cleverly gotten out of her crib.

House had only left Madeline alone in her room for a minute- to grab the _Desitin_ cream for her rash, and somehow his little girl had managed to squirt her bottle of talc in a circle trail, and had thrown blocks in opposite ends of the room.

Her destruction was actually quite impressive, and as she looked up at him with a wide grin. House could tell that Madeline was also very proud of herself.

xxxoxxxo

After he'd picked her up, and surveyed the destruction, there was a fleeting moment when he regretted having asked Marina not to work that day, because House didn't know the first thing about cleaning up talc from the floor.

But as he had been about to clean it up, he'd realized that Madeline had peed on herself. From there, he gave her a bath, which he nearly regretted. He hadn't accounted for how much she'd fight him, or splash around the water until the entire floor of the bathroom had somehow managed to get wet.

And nearly an hour after her bath, and successfully changing her, she'd began to suck her thumb and bite his arm- letting him know it was time for lunch.

However, Madeline refused to be placed in her high-chair, and screeched if he even thought of putting her down, so he carried her, to avoid her complaints. And as he attempted to serve her food, she pushed away the pudding he got out, shaking her head to let him know she didn't want it.

For a while it seemed like anything he offered to her, she hated, and House almost considered finally calling Cuddy, when he spotted a jar of peanut butter in a cabinet, and attempted one last time- apparently Madeline loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

It made him smile, because their similarities were astounding, and with each moment he spent with her, he felt that annoying sense of cheesy love, that he'd made fun of so many people for.

And finally as she sat, eating her peanut butter contently, he finally had a moment to sit down with her, only to yawn loudly-realizing just how exhausting the morning had been. Not that his idleness and watching her lasted, because he soon learned that feeding toddlers was no easy job, and it was extremely messy. Madeline figured out that she could take the bread apart and scoop up the peanut butter with her finger.

When she had started to smudge the peanut butter in her hair to amuse him, he understood that she was done- but that it meant another bath.

"Cuddy is going to be pissed at you", he muttered without thinking, with half a smile.

Madeline smiled widely at him and giggled, "Uh-dy!"

His face fell, and House's heart fastened, "No- don't say that."

"Uh-dy", she laughed again.

"Stop that Madeline."

Of course, him saying no- only seemed to encourage her, and before he knew it Madeline was saying it over and over again, with great enthusiasm, and fling-ed half of her sandwich onto the kitchen ceiling.

House took a deep breath- it was going to be a long day.

xxxoxxxo

There were a few times throughout her day, when Cuddy thought about calling to check up on House and Madeline, after all, him staying home with her had been an absurd idea. But each time she reached for the phone to call, something or someone would distract her.

Then right as lunch rolled around, and she'd been about to, Nurse Brenda reminded her of the OBGYN appointment she had with Dr Volakis. She had momentarily thought about House, because this appointment was supposed to tell her the sex of the baby, but she voted against calling to let him know.

After all, she doubted he'd care about something as trivial as being there to find out what the baby was going to be. And it was only a few minutes to let her know that everything was progressing normally-that her baby was healthy, and that it was going to be a girl, before Cuddy was off again to her office- where the rest of her afternoon was filled with what House would have called, 'paper-pushing work'.

Before she knew it, five rolled around, and she rushed out of the hospital, before anyone had an opportunity to stall her to get home.

The first thing that she saw as she opened the door to her usually pristinely clean home, was how it seemed like someone had gone in and turned the house upside down. The cushions to her couch had all been taken off and thrown to different corners of her living room, Madeline's toys were everywhere, there were bottles on each surface possible, and as Cuddy stepped into the kitchen there was something brown and lumpy on the ceiling- that she hoped to god was not what she thought it was.

But the second, troublesome thing she noticed, was the smell of something burning. Sure enough, with a close inspection into the oven- Cuddy saw a casserole of something indecipherable, that had become black- from how long it had been in there.

After turning the oven off, Cuddy also realized the lack of any noise- she frowned, "House?"

There was no answer, and so she quickened her pace, looking inside every possible space downstairs, before climbing the stairs and resuming her search. But after she checked Madeline's bedroom, and her own, Cuddy started to panic- then with one last fleeting hope, she quickly opened the dark guest bath, and was about to close it again, when she saw two large Nike Cortez's sticking out of the white shower curtain.

She quickly walked up, and pulled the curtain.

There, asleep with drool coming out both their mouths, were House and Madeline. House had a pillow underneath his head, while Madeline lay on her stomach-on top of House's chest, rising up and down with his breathing.

It was quite possibly the cutest, most bizarre thing she'd ever seen.

Cuddy made an effort not to make any noise, but after she'd turned on the light, and began to awkwardly slide down the wall next to the tub, where House was laying- his eyes started to flutter open.

He glanced at her for a moment, before closing his eyes again, and then taking a deep breath, "What time is it?"

"Almost six…Why are you guys sleeping in the tub?"

He stifled a yawn, and opened his eyes widely, "She couldn't fall asleep with all the light coming through the windows."

"I see…and what happened downstairs?"

House gave her a look that said he wasn't responsible, "I don't know what you've taught this kid, since I've been gone, but she's insane."

As Cuddy was about to speak up again, she felt a strong kick come from the baby, and instinctively put a hand on her stomach.

"What's wrong?" House frowned, looking over at her with sudden concern, whilst attempting not to wake up a slumbering Madeline.

"She moved- she'd never kicked that hard", Cuddy explained, massaging her stomach.

House's breathing was slow, and she could tell that he was in deep thought for a moment, "She? Its another girl? When did you find out?"

"Today."

There was a slight crease in between his eyebrows, and he looked into her eyes, "You had an appointment?"

She nodded.

"You didn't mention anything", he stated evenly.

"Did you want to be there?"

He contemplated her question, and shrugged, "Sure."

The way he'd flicked his eyes from a random spot on the bathroom wall, with an airy indifferent disposition, had been completely infuriating to Cuddy. Mostly, because she knew him well enough to know that it was a facade. The truth was, he had a big opinion, he just didn't want her to think he cared that much.

She let out a big breath of air, and pursed her lips at him, "House-…you need to communicate with me. Because I don't know what you want, and I'm not a mind reader."

He looked at her, surprised and furrowed his eyebrows at what she'd said.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want you."

"But is that all you want? Because you can't have me, without being responsible for Madeline now, or for- _her_", she rubbed her stomach as she said it.

He was quiet, and it would have been a lie if she said it didn't worry her, but Cuddy knew ultimately he did want them. House just didn't know how to say it in his own way.

She sighed softly, and smiled weakly at him, "I just need to hear you say it. I need to know that you're- in it for the long run."

"I am."

It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, to hear him say that he wanted to be there. It was silly, but his confirmation, made her feel ten times safer, secretly because House was still so unpredictable. Cuddy smiled, and was about to close in to give him a kiss, when her phone went off, and she stopped in mid-kiss to look down at her phone, and cursed, after she'd silenced the phone.

"Who was that?" He looked at her with newfound curiosity, with some of his very familiar sarcasm coming back, "Do you have another _baby daddy_ hanging around, that I don't know about?"

She gave him a sardonic look, and shook her head, "No, its just the party planner, for Madeline's birthday party."

"Why on earth would you have a birthday party for her? She's only one."

"Uh- because she just turned one. How can we not throw her a birthday party?"

House shrugged, "I never got one, and I turned out just peachy."

Cuddy shook her head with a little laugh, "That explains so much- and Madeline is having one…"

Her voice trailed off, when she noticed their toddler start fluttering her eyes open, and then spotting Cuddy. For a moment, she looked up at her, then House, and then up at Cuddy again, with a growing smile.

"-Uh-dy."

House looked up at the ceiling, and began to whistle, as Cuddy's eyes nearly bugged out, "Did she just call me Cuddy?"


End file.
